TIJCEF Holds Two-Day Leadership Training to Strengthen Leadership Capacity
The Tijwun Care and Empowerment Foundation (TIJCEF) organised a two-day leadership training programme in January 2026, bringing participants together for intensive capacity development led by experienced resource persons, including the President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation.
The programme formed part of TIJCEF’s efforts to strengthen leadership, communication and personal-development capacity and was implemented under the Foundation’s Agency pillar, which focuses on enabling individuals to develop the knowledge, confidence and capacity required to make informed decisions and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
The President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation served as one of the programme’s resource persons, alongside other key individuals who contributed to the two-day training.
Unlike a one-off motivational engagement, the programme was conducted over two days, providing participants with an extended period for learning, interaction and engagement with the resource persons.
The intervention came as Nigeria continues to confront challenges surrounding youth skills, employment and meaningful participation in economic and community development, making investments in practical leadership and transferable skills increasingly important.
Two-Day Programme Focuses on Capacity Development
The January 2026 programme placed human-capacity development at the centre of TIJCEF’s intervention.
For the Foundation, leadership development is not restricted to people occupying political offices or senior organisational positions. Leadership can be demonstrated within schools, workplaces, businesses, civil society organisations, religious institutions and communities.
The programme therefore provided a platform through which participants could engage with resource persons and strengthen skills relevant to their personal and professional development.
Its two-day duration was also a notable element of the intervention.
Rather than bringing participants together for a brief session, TIJCEF dedicated two days to the programme, allowing greater opportunity for engagement between participants and facilitators.
The Foundation’s decision to involve multiple resource persons also broadened the programme beyond a single perspective.
Among those contributing was the President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation, bringing public-speaking and communication experience into a programme centred on leadership development.
Public Speaking Meets Leadership Development
The involvement of a public-speaking professional was relevant because communication remains an important component of effective leadership.
Leaders are frequently required to explain ideas, engage groups, communicate decisions and mobilise people around objectives.
For young people and emerging leaders, the ability to organise thoughts and communicate confidently can also affect participation in professional, educational and community environments.
Public speaking is therefore not limited to delivering speeches before large audiences.
It can include presenting an idea during a meeting, defending a proposal, communicating with colleagues, addressing community members or explaining a project to potential partners.
By including expertise in this area within the two-day programme, TIJCEF connected leadership development with practical communication capacity.
Other key resource persons also participated, giving the training a multi-resource-person structure rather than making it dependent on one facilitator.
Programme Reflects TIJCEF’s Agency Pillar
The leadership training falls under TIJCEF’s Agency pillar, one of the four pillars guiding the Foundation’s programmes.
Within this pillar, the emphasis is on people’s ability to act rather than simply receive assistance.
Leadership training fits this approach because its primary output is not the distribution of physical materials. Instead, it creates access to knowledge, experience and interaction that participants can potentially apply in their personal and professional lives.
This distinguishes the programme from TIJCEF’s humanitarian activities.
For example, an intervention involving donated materials responds primarily to an immediate need. Leadership training seeks to strengthen individual capacity.
Both approaches can serve important purposes, but their results should be reported differently.
For the January programme, the documented facts include the two-day duration, TIJCEF’s role as organiser and the involvement of the President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation alongside other resource persons.
A beneficiary figure has not been inserted into this report because a verified attendance number has not been established in the information currently available for publication.
This prevents an estimated audience from being presented as a confirmed programme statistic.
Nigeria’s Youth Skills Challenge Provides Wider Context
TIJCEF’s intervention took place within a wider national push to improve skills and employment opportunities.
In 2025, Nigeria launched a new National Employment Policy, with the International Labour Organization reporting that the policy places emphasis on employment creation, skills development, youth participation, gender equality and reducing regional disparities.
The ILO described the policy as part of efforts to respond to unemployment, underemployment and the changing nature of work in Nigeria. “International Labour Organization – Nigeria National Employment Policy 2025” (https://reference-url-citation.invalid/0)
The national policy environment demonstrates why capacity-development interventions have relevance beyond the organisations implementing them.
Leadership training alone cannot resolve unemployment.
Public-speaking skills alone cannot create jobs.
However, communication, leadership, teamwork and problem-solving are transferable capabilities that can complement academic and technical qualifications.
Grassroots interventions can contribute to this process by making development opportunities accessible to participants at community level.
TIJCEF Expands Capacity-Building Activities
The January leadership programme also adds to TIJCEF’s growing portfolio of capacity-development activities.
The Foundation’s interventions have covered different groups and development needs, including girls’ empowerment, women’s leadership, youth development and humanitarian support.
The two-day training represents the leadership-development component of that broader programme structure.
By bringing experienced resource persons into direct engagement with participants, TIJCEF sought to provide learning that could be applied beyond the training venue.
The programme also demonstrated the value of drawing expertise from outside the Foundation itself.
Civil society organisations do not need to possess every form of expertise internally.
Partnership with professionals and specialist organisations can enable grassroots foundations to deliver programmes involving knowledge that may otherwise be unavailable to their beneficiaries.
The involvement of the President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation illustrates this approach.
Evidence Remains Important in Reporting Training Outcomes
While the programme can be documented through its duration, organisers, resource persons, photographs and other programme records, TIJCEF is careful about distinguishing those records from measurable behavioural outcomes.
Participation in leadership training does not automatically prove that every participant subsequently became a leader or significantly improved their public-speaking ability.
Such conclusions require additional evidence.
For this reason, TIJCEF’s reporting of the January programme focuses on what was delivered rather than attaching unsupported impact percentages to the training.
This approach is particularly important as the Foundation strengthens its commitment to evidence-based programming.
Where attendance registers are available, verified beneficiary figures can be incorporated into programme records.
Where pre- and post-training assessments exist, changes in participants’ knowledge can be reported.
Where follow-up interviews are conducted, subsequent application of skills can also become part of the evidence base.
Without those measurements, the Foundation can still report the intervention accurately without overstating what it achieved.
Investing in Human Capacity
The significance of the January 2026 leadership programme ultimately lies in TIJCEF’s decision to invest in people.
Community development requires infrastructure, social services and material resources, but it also requires individuals capable of organising, communicating and taking responsibility.
Leadership capacity contributes to that human component of development.
A young person capable of communicating an idea effectively may be better positioned to advocate for a community project.
An emerging entrepreneur who can present a business concept clearly may be better able to engage partners.
A volunteer who develops organisational skills may contribute more effectively to community initiatives.
These are examples of why leadership and communication skills remain relevant across different areas of development.
Two Days Dedicated to Building Agency
The January 2026 intervention therefore represents a documented component of TIJCEF’s Agency pillar.
TIJCEF organised the training.
The programme lasted two days.
The President of Public Speakers Network of Africa Foundation served as a resource person.
Other key resource persons also contributed.
And participants were brought together for leadership and capacity development.
Those facts provide the foundation of the programme’s impact record without requiring exaggerated claims.
For TIJCEF, the intervention also reinforces an important principle: empowerment should not only provide people with temporary assistance. It should create opportunities for them to acquire knowledge and strengthen their ability to act.
The two-day leadership training translated that principle into a practical programme.
As TIJCEF continues expanding its work, the January intervention stands as evidence of the Foundation’s investment in developing people who can communicate, participate and contribute more effectively within their organisations and communities.
That is the central purpose of the Agency pillar: helping people move from participation to greater capacity for action.
